Duality
And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Genesis 18:27 NASB
Dust and ashes – “Experiencing God’s presence may be the pathway to living in the moment with both humility and self-worth. Rab Simha Bunim of Peschischa made this point by carrying a note in each of his pockets. One read, ‘I am but dust and ashes’ (Genesis 18:27). The other read, ‘The world was created for me’” (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5).”[1]
“Solitude is a superior virtue, greater than all others. At regular intervals, seclude yourself for an hour or more in a room or a field to converse openly with your Creator, [whether] offering arguments or apologies, in words that are grateful, pacifying, and conciliatory, beseeching and imploring Him to bring you close to Him in order to serve Him sincerely.”[2]
Can these ashes cry for the presence of their Maker?
Topical Index: Genesis 18:27, Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5, solitude
[1] Avraham Weiss, Holistic Prayer, p. 183.
[2] Avraham Weiss, Holistic Prayer, citing the statement of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav.
Morning Skip, Your email didn’t come out this morning so I came to the site to see if you had posted it. Not sure why the email didn’t come. I’m an early riser and one of the first things I look for is your email!
What determines true worth? Victor Frankl said it was purpose. What determines true humility? I think the closest the flesh ever comes to humility is shame. Correctly directed shame (the shame that leads me back out of ego space) can get me to the place of humility, but I don’t think it can ever be a substitute for it. Humility, in fact, is what reestablishes my real worth in the cosmos, but shame is about the nonworth of ego. Humility is one of the “good and perfect gifts” that “come down from the Father of lights”, and thus I must ask for it and be grateful for it, for I could never manufacture it or ‘earn’ it or ‘deserve’ it either. Humility is a gift of grace.
Humility returns me to the point of my heaven-directed purpose and thus is the correct vehicle for reestablishing the worth I was created for. Humility frees me from the pathos of my own ego and ushers me back into the Presence of the divine purpose. “Thy will, not mine, be done” gets me back out of the futility of ego, which is the fleshly substitute for worth (as shame, likewise, is what I think the flesh chooses to substitute for humility), and connects me with the weighty worth of full connection. I matter to everything else in the place where everything else matters to me. When the worth of all, which is the full consideration of heaven, includes me, then my presence alone in that web of love returns me to the full purpose that heaven has always seen me fulfilling.
My purpose is the sum of my worth, but In my finiteness I can never conceive, try as I might, the intricate enormity of the worth heaven desires to accomplish through me simply by my presence in the place I was intended for. Where is that place? I will know it when I dethrone my self and reestablish Him there. My entire worth is bound up in the worth of the Lover of my soul. In His presence I lose my own, and in so doing, find my true worth in His. Halleluah!
Morning Skip thanks for today’s post , in the first picture you could see a lot of pain and sadness on what look like faces, or solitude that you could feel , the other solitude, but with joy and happiness, goes to show that we do need to spend time one and one with our Creator.
I cherish solitude, peace and quiet. Being in solitude in ABBA’s presence, studying His ways, learning of Him, drawing closer to Him, seeking Him, will not make me feel loneliness, nor lonesomeness. I can spend hours in such blissful solitude. Guess I have been “alone” for a very long time, and have had many, many such invaluable days, with no distraction of any sort, has blessed me with boundless joy and understanding of His ways, and the fragility, worthiness of life with humility and confidence that He cares and takes care of me as I trust Him in doing what is required of me, to walk in awe of His mercies and chesed, although I am but dust and ashes.
I appreciate the stillness and calm your pictures bring forth, Skip, todah!